Voices
by Arctic-Starflowers
Summary: (STILL MOSTLY ON HOLD) Shadow meets a spirit. She reminds him of Maria, but says her name is Mavis. She claims she could bring him to another world. Shadow, sceptical but in lack of anything else to do, says, 'yes'
1. Chapter 1

.

 **Voices**

 **.**

It was strange how the absence of others could make you hear things you usually wouldn't notice. The soft, embracing rustle from the leaves as the wind blew through them, the sound of flowing water, the sound of his own breathing, even the sounds of his heartbeat.

It was slightly disturbing to hear his own pulse, though, but not even nearly as distressing as _the_ _voice_ he had been hearing. It sounded like a female, singing or humming to an unknown tune, and its source seemed to be _nothing_ _at_ _all_.

And that was why Shadow presumed that he was going insane…

He had been wandering around aimlessly in the woods outside of Station Square for a few hours, thinking about happier, long-forgotten days, when the song had begun. At first it was barely more than a whisper, a sound so faint that he couldn't even tell what it was, but then, gradually, it had becoming louder and louder, and now he could clearly hear it singing in his head…

Shadow shook his head, trying to get rid of it. Then he got up from the ground and began walking again, the sound of his shoes hitting the ground bleaching out all other noises. It felt good to have a single, real noise to listen to, and the steady rhythm was slowly calming him. The voice he had been hearing had really put him on an edge, as he began fearing that he was hallucinating again. Still, the voice was definitely not Maria's, which voice he would be able to recognise even in his sleep.

But then again, maybe he was just turning insane…..

He stepped on a branch which snapped, waking him up from his thoughts with the noise. He looked around, taking in his surroundings to see where his feet had been leading him. He was standing in a glade filled with lilac flowers. The trees around him shaded the glade, and some rocks lay in the middle of it.

Shadow walked up to one of the rocks, pressing a hand against its rifled surface. Rocks. They made him think of the battle he had yesterday. He and Sonic had been fighting over a chaos emerald again, the yellow one to be more precise. The fight had been going as usual for half an hour, a few spin-dashes, some kicks and chaos spears, but then suddenly the Doctor showed up with his latest robot, and they both ran off to fight somewhere else. After that Shadow just decided to leave the chaos emerald there and go back to club Rouge...

It seemed rather foolish when he thought of it now. He had been fighting to get the gemstone, but then he had just left it there. Still… He didn't really need that emerald, since he already had one…

He sat down on the grass, leaning against the rock. The cool surface sent shivers up his spine, and he shuddered involuntarily. He closed his eyes, focusing on the warmth the chaos energy beside his heart gave him.

A gentle breeze ruffled his fur, and soon his thoughts began to wander again.

 _Maria…_

It suddenly felt so much more unfriendly in the glade, like every little shadow could snuff out the last of his light, his precious memories of Maria…

Now he began hearing it again. His heartbeat. Slow but steady… Wait… No, no, he couldn't be hearing that again, could he?

The singing female voice was back in his head again. Shadow quickly got up from the ground, looking all around the glade, checking if there really wasn't anyone here but himself…

The trees stood silent, the grass swayed in the breeze and the rocks lay lonely in the grass. No one was here but him.

 _No! What is it? Why can I hear a voice inside my head?_ He mentally cried out, silencing whatever it was for a few seconds…

He slumped down on the ground again, curling up against the rock.

 _Why?_

… _I'm so sorry if I scared you…_

Shadow flinched, turning his head looking in all different directions. Still, no one was here. Someone had answered him _inside_ _his_ _head_ …

… _Am I insane?_ He asked out, feeling afraid that he would get an answer…

… _Maybe… Depends on how_ _you_ _look at it of course._ The voice answered. Shadow flinched again and looked up, but unfortunately he was still alone in the glade.

 _What… what are you?_ He thought feeling both scared and embarrassed at doing this…

… _I don't really know, I just happened to get into your world by mistake._

… _My world?_

 _Yes, I'm not from around here._

… Shadow's head hurt from trying to make sense of anything that was happening. If he had been more religious then he would probably have thought that it was a ghost…

… _Then… then who are you? Can you- whatever you are- at least answer that?_ Shadow thought. If he now somehow happened to have a telepathic conversation, then he at least wanted to know who he was talking to.

The voice answered after a few seconds…

 _I'm… I'm Mavis. Mavis of Fairy Tail…_

* * *

 **The End..?**

* * *

 **A/N:** Don't ask. This is just something I thought of while emptying my bookshelf.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** This was meant to be an oneshot. Really.

* * *

One of the first things that Shadow had learnt in his life was to never, ever trust your imagination. That it was better to be a pessimist, because that way he wouldn't get his hopes brutally crushed.

…Still, it would be rather rude to ignore the imaginative girl who right now was speaking to him.

Afraid that she might also be able to read the thoughts that wasn't directed to her, Shadow quickly tried to collect his thoughts and focus at the situation at hand.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, the cool breeze brushing his fur. It was already nightfall, it seemed.

… _What's Fairy tale?_ He stuttered. There was simply no way that she came from an actual fairy tale, so she must have meant something else with the same name.

 _It's called Fairy_ _Tail_ _, silly you!_ The gir- _Mavis_ chirped back. Strange that she had a name. Hallucinations usually don't…

And the answer. Okay, Fairy Tail. Definitely not the answer he had been expecting. His hallucinations surely had gotten more creative…

… _Okay… Then what is, Fairy_ _Tail_ _?_ He asked, still trying to take deep, calming breaths. She was just a fragment of his imagination, okay? No need to be scared…

 _It's a magical guild!_ Okay. He probably still should be scared, but instead at how ridiculously creative his imagination had gotten.

He slowly nodded, then realised that Mavis probably couldn't see it.

 _Okay…_

… _Do you have a… visible form?_ He would really like to see what she looked like, as he was almost certain that she had blond hair and a blue dress, just to mock him.

 _Yes… In fact I'm standing right in front of you…_

Wait a second… Shadow blinked, and looked again. There was clearly nothing in front of him. He reached out with his hand and shook it in the air. Still nothing.

 _But then why can't I see you?_

 _That's 'cause only people with the guild mark can see me._ Mavis explained. Great, now she had guild marks too?

Then Shadow got an idea, which he later would blame on his lack of sleep that week. The idea was that kind of ridiculous idea which only happened in Fairy tales, and was meant to only work in Fairy tales. Unfortunately he didn't think of that then…

… _Is there any way for me to get to see "your world"?_

 _I'm almost certain there is! … Unfortunately I don't have the right spell now, however…_ Spells? At this point Shadow actually began to wonder if she maybe, for some very unexplainable reason, was real. Simply because there was no way in hell that he or his mind could come up with something as crazy as this, having been raised by scientists and all…

… _You're not-_ Shadow began, but Mavis cut him off.

 _I've got it!_

Oh no… He wasn't really going to get flung into another dimension? Or maybe it wasn't such a bad fate after all. That way he'd be rid of Sonic, at least…

 _No, what am I thinking? It's impossible!_ Shadow mentally shouted at himself, hoping that Mavis wouldn't hear it. Outside of his head the moon was currently going up…

 _Here we go!_ Mavis cheerfully exclaimed, and before Shadow even had time to think "oh no" the world disappeared right before his eyes…

* * *

A blinding light, bright as a star. Bleaching out everything else, memories, troubles, thoughts, everything.

He thought he could briefly see something shimmer inside of it, but it was gone as fast as it appeared.

The light got even brighter if possible, and then….

* * *

 **THUD!**

Something soft and slightly thorny to his face, and he took a deep breath of the grass' scent. He began to feel aware of where his various body parts were, and they all seemed to still be intact. His head in the grass, so were his body and arms too, while his legs seemed to lay on sand, or maybe gravel.

… _It worked! I should never have doubted Precht, he's a genius!_

… _What?..._

He hadn't travelled to another dimension, had he? That would mean that (a) he going insane, or (b) the girl, Mavis, had been real all along and everything he thought he knew about the world had just been thrown out of a window.

 _Or this could be a dream. Or wait, why do I even care for that matter? I can stay here just as well as I can stay on Mobius. Eat, sleep, think…_

… _It's really not a problem….. I don't want any friends. I'm not going to miss Sonic at all._

 _And I can probably go back just as easily as I got here if Mavis' magic really exists._

Somewhere inside of the black furred mess named Shadow was something which screamed at him to get up from the ground, to at least open his eyes and not be so totally vulnerable to attacks, but he just ignored it.

It was better to lie here and calm down first, after all.

…And if all this bizarreness was real, then… well, no one had tried to kill him yet. And he still had his powers left. And his memories, _thank_ _god_ …

… _You okay?_ Mavis asked, still in his head.

 _I'm fine._ He mentally muttered. Shadow then decided to get up. It wasn't like a new dimension was the end of the world, right? Just keep calm and frown, and then no one will bother you… Who isn't Sonic.

He opened his eyes, and saw that he was in some kind of forest, with his feet almost in a little lake there. Sunlight flooded the place, and flowers in bright colours were blooming everywhere.

And most importantly, no one seemed to be near him…. Which meant that Mavis was still invisible for him. Damn it…

He stood up, and brushed the sand off himself.

Then he reached inside of his quills to check that the emerald was still there. Thankfully he was met with the familiar warmth of chaos, so he withdrew his hand again, crossing his arms over his chest.

"…So this is your world?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry guest, but I don't want to change his species.

* * *

 _Yes! Wonderful, isn't it?_ Mavis happily exclaimed.

Shadow just hmphed. The place wasn't really that bad. Just a tad bit too bright for his taste…

 _Wanna come and see my guild?_ Mavis then asked. Guild, what guil- Oh yeah… that thing. Fairy tale, or whatever it was called…

… _Okay. Just because I don't have anything to do…_ And also a little bit because he really wanted to see how Mavis looked like, and apparently you needed a "guild mark" to do so.

 _Yay! I'll give you directions. See that big tree there?_ Mavis asked. Shadow looked around. Many small trees, a lot of flowers, the pond, more flowers… there!

 _Yes?_

 _Walk up to it, and continue forward for a few hundred metres._

 _Okay…_

Shadow did as she told him to, but couldn't stop himself from also adoring the landscape. The forest here was so much prettier than those home at Mobius, with all sorts of flowers and interesting trees and rocks. And the animals! Completely different from those at home.

But maybe it was a good thing, since most humans on Mobius would freak out completely if they saw a monkey that big…

 _Stop!_ Mavis suddenly exclaimed, and Shadow stopped.

 _Now you have to turn to the right, and continue in that direction!_

 _Understood._

Shadow turned to the right, and began to follow an overgrown path which lay there. The trees soon began to stand more widely scattered, and more grass and flowers took over. And then…

A town could be seen behind the branches, and what appeared to be either the sea, or a big lake.

 _Yes! There it is, Magnolia!_ Mavis happily exclaimed.

 _Magnolia?_ Shadow asked. Kinda odd name for a town.

 _That's the name of the town! And it's Magnolia, and not Magedolia…_ Mavis said.

… _Ha hah._ Shadow said with as much sarcasm as possible. _Mistaking Fairy Tail for Fairy tale is completely logical._

 _Whatever you say…_ Mavis said, and Shadow swore that she was smirking smugly, even though he couldn't see her.

He finally got out of the forest, and was now standing on a cliff above the town. It seemed like the forest grew on a mountainside…

It was a pretty small town compared to Westopolis, but it was much more beautiful than it too. Lots of small buildings with colourful roofs were scattered everywhere, and in the middle of it was a big stone building which seemed to be a church. There was also a larger building closer to the harbour, and it looked a bit like the buildings in Chun-nan. Or like a castle. Like two different kinds of buildings mixed together.

 _That's the guildhall!_

 _You mean that?_ Shadow asked, pointing at the large castle-like building.

 _Exactly! Let's go and meet the others!_

 _But-_

 _Come on!_

Shadow sighed, but started on walking down the path to the town. He was a hedgehog. If her friends were humans… they might just freak out. If they were mobians? No problem… And if they were something else… he himself might just freak out.

He got down into the town, and Mavis started chatting in his head again, telling him what all the buildings were there for, and who lived there. Unfortunately only humans seemed to live here, and their wide-eyed stares followed Shadow as he walked.

 _Ugh… I hate crowds…_

 _Don't worry, we'll soon be there._

True to Mavis's words he soon found himself outside of "the guildhall". It was even larger when you got closer, and everything was made to fit for humans, so it looked even more gigantic to him than to an average human.

 _Come on, go inside! Or wait, I'll go first and tell them we have a guest!_

… _Why do you even want to be in my company?_

… _You seemed lonely. And you're not cursed, so I thought, why not?_

… _Okay…_

Shadow waited there for a while. The sun made it uncomfortable for him to be outside, as black attracts sunshine, so he thought that he could go inside to the yard. He jumped over the fence, and gladly noted that there wasn't anybody outside.

There were some tables with parasols, so he sat down at one of those. The deserted garden also had a gift shop, and what seemed to be a café. He started to examine the table instead, as there weren't anything interesting to look at.

A regular wooden table, it seemed, with some empty glasses which smelled like alcohol. There was also some magazines.

"Sorcerer Weekly" It said.

Shadow took one and opened it up on a random page. Half a second later he closed it again, and put it back on the table. Those humans…..

 _I'm back!_ Shadow shot out of his chair, and then he realised that it was Mavis who had spoken.

… _And?_

 _Let's go inside!_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Whatever…

* * *

The door opened, and Shadow stepped in. Silence for a few seconds, as they took their first look at each other. They all seemed to be humans, however… with strange hair colours, but who were he to judge?

"He's so cute!" A girl with short white hair and big eyes blue as the sky then exclaimed. And that broke the silence…

"This is Shadow, your new guildmate!" Mavis exclaimed in his head, though the others seemed to hear it too. Wait – guildmate?! _Mavis!_ Shadow cried mentally, but she ignored him. He certainly _hadn't_ agreed to it… yet…

"He's even shorter than you, Levy." A man with long black hair and piercings said from the bar across the big hall, and then a little blue haired girl beside slapped him in the face.

"Don't mind them. By the way, I'm Lucy, nice to meet you!" A girl with blond hair then said, and kneeled beside him to shake his hand. He awkwardly did so, while taking a look at her face. Soft, brown eyes and a smile…

"Hi there!" A childish voice then greeted from behind him. Shadow turned around, and was met with the sight of a… blue cat?

"And you are…?" He began.

"Happy!" The cat exclaimed. He was even shorter that Shadow himself, and didn't seem to be mobian… so why the hell was he talking?

"And _what_ are you?" He asked.

The cat just answered cheerfully. "An exceed!"

"Exceed?" Shadow repeated, still confused.

"From Edolas!" The cat exclaimed. Shadow decided to simply stop questioning, as he apparently knew too little about this world to really be able to grasp what he meant.

"Okay…" He muttered, and glanced up again. Another short girl with blue hair had appeared, but this one had her hair tied into two long ponytails. She also had a cat with her, her's being white, and seemingly female too.

"Hello, my name's Wendy, and this is Carla!" She said, at first gesturing to herself, and then at the cat, who crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hi…" Shadow replied, fighting off the urge to cross his arms too. Being the centre of the attention – no, no, no, that was _so_ not anything for him. But Sonic wasn't even here, so he might as well-

"Oi, stripes! Nice meeting ya!" Shadow practically froze at that. No, it wasn't Sonic's voice, but it sure as hell sounded like him. The Ultimate lifeform turned around slowly, and saw a grinning, pink-haired boy, who seemed to have put the girl's – Lucy's – food on fire. Shadow wasn't even surprised at that, but replied with an irritated voice,

" _Don't call me that!_ " At first the boy looked surprised, and so did the others. And then another black-haired boy entered the scene.

"Do you know him?" The pink-haired boy turned to the black-haired boy, who for some reason didn't have a shirt on. He looked confused and glared at the pink-haired boy, and then he turned to Shadow who had given in to the temptation to cross his arms.

Shadow looked at him silently, waiting for him to introduce himself.

After a minute or so, he turned to the ceiling and exclaimed, "First? What are you doing here?"

" _I just brought a new guildmate!"_ She exclaimed, but Shadow was fairly certain the others heard it too, as some of them turned to look at the ceiling too.

 _You're sitting up there?_ He asked mentally.

" _Yup!"_ She said, but the others didn't seem to hear, as they looked down again and resumed whatever they were doing at the moment. The pink-haired boy continued to look at him suspiciously, though…

"Well, I'm Gray." Shadow turned back to look up at the dark-haired boy, who finally introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Shadow." There. Was there someone else for him to greet?

"So…" Shadow looked back up at Gray. " _What kind of magic do you practice?_ "

"Ma…gic?" Shadow slowly said. _Don't tell me I have to learn something like that too…_

 _Wait… I can use chaos control… I can use chaos energy. Does that count?_

"Yeah, magic." Gray specified.

Shadow nodded. "Wait just a moment…" He took a step backwards to get some more room, and put his hands in front of him. He tapped into the chaos energy inside him, and sent it to his hands, aiming to create a fire of chaos in his cupped hands.

Gray looked at him with slight interest, and Shadow silently focused. Neon-green sparks started to form and bounce between his fingertips, and soon green flames shoot up from his palms. Satisfied with the result Shadow then turned back to Gray, who looked at the flames with an expression torn between disgust and interest.

… _Hmm… maybe I should try something else?_ Shadow thought, but then he saw from the corner of his eye how the pink-haired boy was looking at him again. And how the blond girl… Lucy (?) also looked at him.

Shadow didn't really appreciate their sudden interest in him, so he turned around and sent a glare the pink-haired boy's way. He looked at him strangely, and then he started talking with Lucy again.

… _What's with that boy...?_ Shadow thought. He… reminded him uncomfortably much of Sonic…

" _Oh, that's just Natsu!"_ Mavis chirped inside his head.

 _Natsu?_

" _Yeah! He's a dragon-slayer."_

 _Dragon… slayer?_

" _Yeah! He learnt fire-magic from a dragon when he was little, and then he joined the guild… He's also rather well known for being very destructive…"_ Mavis explained, and Shadow sighed. He then looked up again as Gray looked at him strangely for sighing.

As Shadow learnt that - Nasty? Natsu? – used fire-magic, he became curious of what Gray might ' _practice'_ as he said himself. "Well, what magic do _you_ use?"

"Ice-make magic." He said, and held his hand up he too. A glistening bird made of ice materialised in his hand, and he grinned at Shadow's slightly widened eyes.

"…That's…" Shadow searched for some kind of compliment, but his vocabulary regarding that was rather empty… "…That's cool." He finished his sentence, but then he cringed on the inside as he realised what a horrible pun he had made.

"Heh, thanks…" Gray said. "And what do you call that… fire?"

"Chaos energy."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back! And I'm really, really sorry if anyone's OOC, but I've never wrote for any Fairy Tail character before… (Except Zeref, but that's another story)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Anonymous reviews replies:** Are you all the same person who requested for Shadow to remain hedgehog? (If not, sorry for kind of offending you all!) Anyway, _**yes**_ , he's going to stay hedgehog… or Ultimate lifeform. However you want to put it.

* * *

"-And I expect both you _and_ Agent Shadow to get back to work as soon as possible!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll drop in later." Rouge sighed and cut the call. She massaged her temples and put the phone back inside of her glove. "Jeez, someone needs to chill…"

 _And you'll better have a good explanation when I find you, Shadow, or else..._ She added as a mental threat, and walked over to the door of the club. She wasn't worried, of course, but… Shadow had just suddenly disappeared. He said he was going to go for a walk, but then he never returned.

Certainly he could fight for himself, being the Ultimate lifeform and all… Rouge snorted. But he hadn't even replied to his messages! The commander had tried to contact him several times, but Shadow didn't ever answer. It was like the black hedgehog just had turned into nothing and disappeared.

…And that was why Rouge was going to Sonic's.

She put on a brightly pink capelet, took an umbrella, and stepped outside into the pouring rain. The rain was heaving itself down from the sky like a waterfall, and water droplets bounced and splattered all over the soaking pavement, seeping into her boots as she walked. Rouge would have considered flying, if it wasn't for the fact that she couldn't hold up the umbrella that way…

 _But_ , there was one positive thing with the weather so far: blue would _surely_ be at home.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, many, many dimensions away…_

* * *

"-bye, see you tomorrow! AND DON'T COME LATE!" Lucy turned around to shout the last phrase at Natsu, and stopped on her way to the doors.

"I NEVER DO, IT'S YOU WHO GET'S LATE!" The dragon slayer shouted back, but then he added, "And bye Lucy!" With a smile.

Lucy in turn waved at him while shaking her head like she thought he was hopeless, and then she went outside.

 _And another one gone._ Shadow commented in his head, as he watched the scene unfold a few tables away.

" _Yes, they're going home for today."_ Mavis chimed in, and Shadow looked at her. He had finally gotten a 'guildmark' (a red one on shoulder), and hence he was able to see her. Turned out she was a lot younger than Shadow expected though, with long golden hair and green eyes like a deep forest.

Her eyes was actually pretty nice. Not blue and able to remind him of… stuff… and not neon-green like a certain annoying hedgehog…

The door slammed once again, and Shadow looked up with a flinch. He looked over the room, and soon he came to the conclusion that it was Gray who had left. Outside the sun was going down steadily, so the rest would probably follow soon.

… _Wait_

 _Where shall I stay overnight?_ He asked mentally. Of course he could speak up if he wanted to, seeing as he was even able to hear Mavis' voice now, but…

" _Uh… Well, I… haven't really thought of anything…"_

Shadow resisted the urge to face-palm, and said instead, _...On the other hand, I don't really need sleep anyway…_

" _How lucky!"_

* * *

It was strange, how the sky here looked so similar to the skies over Mobius. Same vast, black emptiness, tinted with a slight blue hue and millions and millions of tiny fragments of light…

… _Though they still have their moon left…_

 _Heh, they didn't have any psychos here to blow it up…_ Shadow thought with a sad little smile, and sent a rock flying down the river with his hover-skate.

Magnolia was surprisingly quiet at night. Back in Station Square, or Central city, or even Westopolis, it would have been lots of cars bustling about. And street-thugs and people from the various night-clubs scattered across the place. He should know, as he lived atop one after all…

… _This world… is more different from Mobius then I thought at a first glance…_

The ebony hedgehog came to a fork in the road, and turned to the left. Seeing as he didn't have to sleep, and didn't really have anywhere to sleep, he decided to explore around the town instead. Magnolia was significantly smaller than any of the cities on Mobius, but it was also more decorated, with all the coloured rooftops, cherry-trees and flower arrangements.

… _Maria would have loved it._ Shadow thought before he could stop himself. He couldn't help it though; all his memories of the girl just kept resurfacing since he came to this strange, new world…

…There was still a way to go back right? If he ever wanted to, needed to…

"Meeeow!" Shadow almost jumped at the sudden noise, and he quickly spun around.

"…A cat." He stated aloud.

Said animal meowed again, and raised a brownish paw to scratch its nose. Shadow gave the cat one last glare, and then he turned around and began walking again. It meowed again, and Shadow turned around again.

It was following him.

He glared at it in silent irritation. The cat just waved slightly with its tail, and stared back with its chartreuse eyes. Didn't seem like it was of the intelligent kind, like that blue one…

Shadow sighed. "Hmph, follow if you want then…"

Light footsteps trailing after him indicated that it did.


	6. Chapter 6

**To sunset:** Well I'm not planning anything too radical or so...

* * *

The cat had left, and he was back at the guild. It was early morning, and the town was just beginning to wake up, as the first rays of sunshine fell on the streets. It looked like it was going to be another warm and sunny day, and Shadow once again wondered what he was doing in this world anyway.

He wasn't really needed on Mobius, not like Sonic was, so it wasn't that big of a deal that he was… here, wherever it where, instead of on Mobius. But still…

…and he would like to know the name of this planet, if they had one.

Well, now he was just waiting at the gate to the guild. Shadow wasn't sure if he could just walk in or not, so he decided to just wait outside instead…

* * *

"Good morning!" Shadow glanced up at the exclamation, and Wendy waved at him. She wore an orange dress with yellow ribbons, which she had also tied her hair into ponytails with. Carla came walking after her.

"Good morning." Shadow greeted back, but without the enthusiasm.

Wendy walked the last few steps up to him, and then she stopped. Her expression was as if she pondered about something, and wasn't sure if she should voice her thoughts or not. Carla just sighed, and crossed her arms, coming to stand beside the girl.

Shadow crossed his arms too, and leaned against the fence. It was kind of awkward, when Carla was so much shorter than him, and Wendy so much taller…

The girl then seemed to decide what she should do, and so she blurted out, "You could come with my team on a job if you want to."

That took a little time for Shadow to process – job? What job? – but then he realised it was the thing Mavis had talked about, how wizards would do jobs for money.

But Shadow didn't need money… He thought. But well… he needed more knowledge about this world, that fact was clear… So… Maybe he should go with her 'team' just to see how things worked over here… Wherever _here_ was…

So he stopped himself from shaking his head, and gave a slow nod instead. "I'll come with you then, if it isn't too much trouble?"

"No, no, not at all!" Wendy said happily. Carla then cleared her throat, and both human and hedgehog looked down.

"You'll need to ask Lucy and the others if it's okay, first." She scolded. Wendy just nodded, with a 'Yes, yes, I'll do it as soon as they're here'. She then turned to Shadow with a smile, and said,

"You can go inside the guild if you want. Mira should be here already."

Mira, who was that? – A girl with long ivory hair and a personality similar to Cream's came to mind, and Shadow nodded absently. There were so many… _humans_ , in this world. Of course there were a lot of humans on Mobius too, but you didn't notice them in the same way, and he doubted more colourful hair was the reason he saw them here… Maybe he just got so used to ignoring everyone but himself, that he didn't see those who didn't stick out of the crowd?

…Or maybe the humans on Mobius just plain avoided him, since many still saw him as a kind of 'criminal' from the Black arms war…?

"Well, I'm gonna go and wait for my friends! See you later!" Wendy's happy farewell brought him back to reality, and he waved at her as she skipped inside, Carla following her while muttering under her breath.

…

He let out a sigh, and pushed himself away from where he was leaning against the fence. He walked around to the gate, and walked inside the yard again. Someone had cleaned up the newspapers and glasses since yesterday, he noted, and a girl with lilac hair he hadn't seen before was sitting under a parasol, reading.

He didn't say 'hello', and she didn't see him, so he continued up to the doors, which had been opened up wide, probably to let in fresh air. As he entered the guild, he then became aware of the presence which had unsettled him so greatly yesterday, and said mentally,

 _Good morning_

Something like fabric rustled behind him, and then she said, _"I'm right here, you can speak up if you want to!"_

 _And if I don't want to?_

" _You're no fun! …Though Wendy seems to like you. It's really nice if you can get some friends here!"_

… _We're not friends._

" _But you agreed to go on a job with her! That's always a nice gesture!"_

… _Oh well_

Shadow had walked through the guildhall as they 'talked', and now he sat down at a table. Mavis sat down beside him, light like a feather, and began swinging with her feet under the table happily. She giggled softly, and said, "Natsu and Lucy should be here soon, and then you and Wendy can go and do that job!"

* * *

 _Far, far away, some time ago…_

* * *

"Hiya Rouge! Anythin' special brought you here, or did you just want to see me?" Sonic leaned against the doorway, holding the door open for the bat with a grin.

The rain heaved itself against the windows outside, and Rouge quickly stepped inside, Sonic closing the door behind her. She didn't answer as she slipped out of her coat, hanging it up beside the door, and she didn't answer, as she put away her umbrella. Sonic just waited, for once patient.

The spy had such a solemn look today, and he doubted it was because of the rain. Something important mush have brought her here, and Sonic was fine with waiting until she had gotten her wet clothes off of her.

Rouge then adjusted her gloves, maybe checking if the communicator was still there, and then she promptly asked,

"Have you seen Shadow?"

"Shadow?" Was that the reason she was here? "No, haven't seen him."

Sonic studied her face as she then let out a sigh, and started to make her way deeper inside the house. He then followed her, as she walked inside the living room, dropping down onto the couch. Sonic flopped down beside her, trying to look reassuring.

"Shadow… I haven't seen him _at all_ today... Sugar didn't show up at work neither, and commander's pissed off again." She said, while gazing at the black TV screen. Sonic suddenly wished that the TV was on, 'cause maybe that would've lifted the heavy atmosphere.

It wasn't though, so instead he said, "You sure he isn't on vacation? I mean, he hasn't been gone for that long…"

"He said he was going for a walk, but then he never returned." Rouge chimed in.

"Oh." Sonic said. Oh, Shadow has disappeared again? Hmm, let's see, could it possibly be… amnesia?! …He didn't voice those rather sarcastic opinions, though.

"…Tails could try and look for him, if you want? It's probably not that bad, Rouge. Besides, Mobius aint all that big, we'll find him." Sonic grinned, and Rouge looked at him. Then she smiled.

"Thanks, hun… By the way, have you seen Knuckie?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Shadow's coming with us on the job, if that's okay?"

Natsu and Lucy looked down at them, and Lucy nodded. "Sure!"

"Great!" Wendy agreed, and looked at Shadow. "You can just follow us, and we'll show you how it's done!"

In lack of a better answer, he simply nodded. Natsu and Lucy then went to the doors, and Wendy quickly followed, the ca – exceeds – trailing after in the air. Shadow followed Wendy, but he had to walk pretty fast to keep up with her. Humans are so much taller than mobians, and take so much bigger steps…

And, mind you, that was not a metaphor for anything.

The doors opened. Magnolia greeted them with sunlight and birds, pastel-coloured houses, flowers, magic and stands and salesmen. Natsu and Lucy argued about something – sounded like how big a responsibility a spare-key was – and Happy had taken up the task of leading the way, flying along one of the bigger streets.

Their group was given some odd looks from the crowd, but this time it was mostly at Natsu and Lucy. After a few seconds of confusion, Shadow realised that Natsu and Lucy seemed to be some kind of celebrities here.

He was not sure how to feel about that. He almost caught himself wishing Mavis was here, but then he realised what he was doing and immediately shook off that feeling.

Wendy and the others could tell him more about this world anyway. Speaking of that… "What kind of 'job' is it anyway?"

Wendy looked both surprised and happy that he had asked, and she said, "Oh, it's just a basic search-and-find. The one who put up the job wanted some rare herbs, and we're going to go and find some."

Shadow nodded. Herbs, huh…?

Happy led the way, and soon they were back in the forest. Vines and roots were climbing over each other there, and everything was either bright green or flowers. Natsu and Lucy had come to an agreement, and they were joking together now. Carla just sulked quietly, and Wendy looked at the surroundings happily.

"…What kind of 'magic', did you use now again?"

"I'm the Sky dragon slayer." She paused. "…What did you use now again?" She said sheepishly.

After contemplating over saying 'chaos magic', Shadow then said, "Chaos energy. It' like… lighting magic?"

"Oh! Like Laxus' magic?"

 _Who the hell is Laxus?_ "…Yeah."

They walked and walked – or flew in two cases – and the landscape changed. Shadow wondered how long they were really going to have to walk, but he didn't ask. Natsu spared him the effort in any case, as the Fire dragon slayer suddenly exclaimed,

"Luce! Are we ever going to get there, or what?"

Lucy sighed and said, "We should be there soon… I hope."

…It was at this point that they got attacked by a pack of monkeys the size of large boulders…

Suddenly they had just jumped in front of the road, menacing with their – for some strange reason – green fur, and Happy yelped as he was almost crushed. And then – before most of them could even think of acting – Natsu charged.

And… Chaos energy was never going to seem quite as powerful to Shadow, after he had seen Natsu's magic at work.

He shouted something, and then he slammed his fist into the first one.

-only thing was just, that his fist was on fire, and that flames was just whirling around, melting the grass even. The heat could be felt even from where Shadow and Wendy stood, and needless to say, he and the girl didn't have to lift a finger in this fight.

…And Shadow suspected that Natsu could easily have eliminated the monkeys with a single strike, but didn't because a) he didn't want to do needless killing, or b) he wanted to fight together with Lucy for whatever reason.

Lucy, whose magic was just as brilliant and impossible as Natsu's, summoning forth a warrior with the help of a golden key…

And it was in this moment that Shadow thought that maybe you really shouldn't judge books by their covers. That maybe all of those seemingly harmless people back at the guild, in reality had magic just as strong and vivid and impossible as Natsu and Lucy.

Yeah, he was going to call it magic from now on. When it looked like magic, and worked like magic, then it really had to be magic, right?

…Besides, Fairy Tail? _That_ , at least, should give you a clue…

"Wow Natsu!" Happy exclaimed. "Those monkeys didn't stand a chance!"

"Of course!" Natsu exclaimed, and then he grinned in such a way that Shadow almost hissed, because it looked so Sonic. Ughhh…

"Tsk, was that really necessary…" Carla grumbled, and Wendy told her to cheer up with a smile. Lucy just chuckled, and Shadow… felt almost out of place. Almost like he should just go back or something, but then Wendy had leant down and taken his hand, dragging him with her as the team continued their journey.

"C'mon Shadow! Don't fall behind now, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Shadow said. But then Natsu joked around with Lucy again, and Happy led the way, occasionally stealing glances at Carla, who just scoffed and looked away, and Wendy would chuckle at that and tag Shadow along…

Team, huh?

And the landscape shifted slowly as they travelled, skies going from light forget-me-not to deeper indigo shades…

-And even though she couldn't possibly be here, Shadow could almost hear Mavis talking in his head, saying that he should just enjoy the moment for what it was.


	8. Chapter 8

**To Guest:** Maybe so… ANYWAY, your review the reason I wrote this chapter, so :D

* * *

 **LAST TIME** : Shadow tags along with Natsu, Lucy, Wendy and the Exceeds on a job. They are attacked by dangerous wildlife, Natsu and Lucy make mincemeat out of the threat, and Shadow is reluctantly impressed. Then Natsu acts like Sonic, Shadow gets annoyed, Wendy cheers him up, and the team continue on their merry journey…

* * *

The herbs they were tasked to find were small, spindly, and weighed down by clumps of tiny purple flowers. They had a sharp smell which made Shadow's eyes sting, and he decided that unless these herbs had some sort of medical compensations, then he was going to dislike them. Natsu and Wendy started harvesting them without hesitation though, so Shadow helped them, while Lucy held the bag...

"These plants smell awful," Natsu complained, after a minute.

"I think they smell nice," Wendy chimed in. "A bit like that perfume Mirajane has."

"What smell?" Lucy asked. "I can't smell anything-"

Natsu shot up from his crouch like he had been summoned, holding a bouquet up in front of her face. "Try this!"

"No thanks!" Lucy slapped his wrist away. "Just stuff it in the bag-"

-Natsu continued to dangle the herbs in front of her face. Lucy rolled her eyes for a good ten seconds. And then Shadow started ignoring them, as they launched into another squabble…

Wendy started inching over toward him, while Carla was busy with Happy. Shadow pretended not to notice her at first, focusing on ripping up plants and gathering them in a small heap. (He wasn't sure exactly how much herbs they needed, so for now he was going with: A Lot) Wendy wasn't deterred however, and continued to linger a little bit to his left, and so Shadow turned to face her.

"Do they argue often?" he found himself asking.

"Ah, not really." Wendy smiled. "It's more like… teasing, anyway. Or flirting?" she looked over at them with an exasperated expression, and Shadow frowned. "Well! In any case, they used to do it more, but now they've gotten a bit calmer."

Shadow nodded. Calmer. _Sure_.

…Reminded him of Rouge and Knuckles.

A pang of – not homesickness, more like _I'm-shirking-my-responsibilities_ -ness – welled up in him. _And?_ He thought. He wasn't needed back at home, that was Sonic's job. Shadow wasn't a hero. Rouge could fend for herself. Omega could take care of himself. All was well.

"So where do you live?" Wendy asked, genuinely curious.

"At the moment? Nowhere."

"Wait – you don't… have anywhere to stay?" She seemed very concerned.

"It's not an issue. I won't be staying here for long."

Wendy nodded. Solemnly. "Oh. You – joined the guil, but you're not planning to stay?"

 _Well_ … "I have… commitments in other places."

Wendy nodded, silently. And then she changed the topic. "Do you have friends… there?"

Knee-jerk response: no. Instead Shadow said, "A few. They're not humans, though." _Not anymore, not anymore._ A gunshot that ripped the recycled air apart. Stuck on the other side of the glass _. It was fifty years ago, get a grip-_

"Hmm," Wendy said. "Is it okay if I ask where you are from?"

Shadow gave her a _look_. "I won't answer that, I'm afraid."

Wendy _look_ ed back, like it was a challenge. "Alright. I'm not from around here, either."

"Oh?"

She smiled innocently. "But unfortunately I can't tell you more than that."

He was a bit tempted to roll his eyes, but instead he said, "That's fair."

* * *

 _Later…_

* * *

Bag finally stuffed to the brim with herbs, their group then turned around and started to head back to Magnolia. Happy took the lead, quickly followed by Natsu, while Shadow and Wendy followed at a slower pace. Late afternoon was upon them, and the sun had begun to set, orange light filtering down through the canopy. Lucy insisted that they would be back at the guild before nightfall, as long as anything weird didn't happen.

…Which of course jinxed them, seeing as they had barely walked for another full minute before stumbling upon a child. It was a boy, and he was crying.

"Don't cry!" Happy immediately said, starting to fret over him. "Please don't cry!"

Natsu crouched in front of the boy, who looked barely five years old, and said surprisingly gently, "Hey, what's wrong, little guy?"

(Shadow silently wondered if finding little children crying alone in the forest was somehow… not that uncommon for this world. No one seemed that rattled by this, so.)

"My m-mom," the boy sniffed. "Says I s-shouldn't talk to strangers."

"But we're cool!" insisted Happy, and Shadow thought that he really wasn't helping. Though neither was he-

"We're from Fairy Tail!" Lucy quickly tried. "You know, the Fairy Tail guild?"

The boy nodded. His hair was sandy blond, and his eyes were puffy from crying. "I – I know Fairy Tail. They were in the – the Great Magic Games."

"Yeah, that's us!" Happy said proudly.

The boy was very obviously hesitating, chewing on his bottom lip and everything. He wiped at his eyes, took a deep breath, and said in a rush, "My mom's hurt."

"Could you take us to her?" Shadow cut in.

The boy stared at him, and, in a single jerky motion, nodded.

"Good. Lead the way."

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach her.

"We got attacked by b-b-bandits," the boy explained, still wiping at his left eye. "They took her bag and – and-" he broke off, and halted.

The rest of their group all stopped, too.

Slumped at the base of a big old tree laid a woman. Her most noticeable trait, aside from her bright white hair, was her bloody, wrecked arm…

"Oh dear," someone whispered.

Shadow looked away, painful memories washing over him. He locked them away. He locked them tightly away, looked at the woman again, and thought, _oh hell._

* * *

 **A/N: :D**


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